Milbank came up big down the stretch to hand Aberdeen Roncalli its first home loss of the season Thursday night.

The Bulldogs outscored the Cavaliers 15-7 in the fourth quarter on the way to a 48-38 Northeast Conference girls’ basketball win at Roncalli Gym.

The senior-loaded Bulldogs were able to record a signature victory in a difficult road environment.

“To be honest with you, this group of seniors have kind of been looking for a game kind of like this,” said Milbank coach Brian Pauli. “Credit to the girls. They got one done tonight and against a really good team tonight.”

Roncalli bolted out to an 8-0 advantage to start the game, but that did not last long.

“We could not have asked for a better start than what we had,” said Roncalli coach Derek Larson.

The Cavaliers knew they had to slow down Valparaiso commit Isabella Anderson. Maddie Huber was tasked with that difficult assignment against the left-handed senior.

“We knew she was gonna be good. She’s left-handed, which is not what you see a lot of often. I’m normally used to forcing girls to use their left hand and then I had to fix my mindset and make her go right,” said Huber. “She’s a good basketball player. She shoots the ball, she’s quick. She has a hesitation, that move that she does, and it gets the defense on their heels, and then she goes by. She’s a great passer too.”

The Bulldogs kept their composure against Roncalli’s full-court press, forcing the Cavaliers to go with their half-court defense.

“We did a pretty good job. You know how pressing teams are. If they have some success right away, they’re gonna keep doing it,” said Pauli. “But as long as you keep your composure, handle the basketball, get the ball up and then they’ll kind of back off.”

Despite going scoreless for the final four minutes of the opening quarter, the Cavaliers still led 10-9 going into the second quarter.

“We got up to 10 and then we settled for a lot of jump shots that went in the first three, four possessions, and then didn’t go in for the rest of the half,” said Larson. “We got beat in transition a couple of times early, so we decided to take that off. Just seemed like we didn’t play with a ton of energy after we kind of did that.”

Roncalli still held at 24-22 lead going into halftime, but the Cavaliers felt their margin could have been bigger.

“We had a two-point lead at the half. It could have been a 10-12 point-lead at the half,” Larson said. “Missed a ton of little bunnies underneath the hoop.”

Milbank then took advantage of trailing by just two points, pulling ahead in the third quarter and then pulling away in the fourth.

“We lacked tonight defensively. We are never a lacking defensive team, but we were tonight and that just totally drained us,” said Roncalli senior Ava Hanson. “You can’t lack defense, because your offense isn’t gonna be there and that just showed. We didn’t have great box outs. We weren’t in good positions.”

The lack of defensive rebounding led to second-chance points for Milbank and helped the Bulldogs to outscore Roncalli 26-14 in the final 16 minutes.

“Second half, I thought it was on the other end of the floor where we struggled,” Larson said. “Giving up offensive rebounds, putbacks, giving up a ton of dribble drive to the rim to people’s strong hand. Again, we kind of did it to ourselves in the second half.”

Although Anderson is the focal point Milbank opponents, it was the post players who gave the Bulldogs the extra strength over the Cavaliers in the second half.

“They have two really good post players and I don’t think we emphasized enough in practice their post players,” Hanson said. “But they were really good tonight, and I think that killed us.”

Anderson still had her fair share of success putting up 18 points, but she also was able to spread the ball around to others. Tyra Berry contributed 11, and Claire Snaza added nine.

“She’s learning how to share the basketball, because it’s going to take more than just one, two, or three girls. It’s going to take a whole team,” Pauli said of Anderson. “She’s been playing since she was a seventh-grader, and so now is the time where she’s a senior and so now is the time she’s gotta step up and she’s doing a good job of doing that.”

Hanson led Roncalli with 14 points, and Rylee Voeller followed with 12.

Despite the double-digit setback, the Cavaliers still hung tough against one of the top Class A teams in the area.

“They’re a good team. If we stuck with them that whole time and our shots weren’t falling, that’s nothing to hang your heads about,” said Huber. “If we look at it in the long run, we stuck with them and we weren’t playing the best of games.”

Both teams will compete in the Dak XII-NEC Clash Saturday in Madison, with Roncalli taking on top-rated Sioux Falls Christian, and Milbank facing Canton.

MILBANK (9-6): Siera Wenzl 1 0-0 2, Isabella Anderson 6 3-5 18, Tyra Berry 2 6-8 11, Claire Snaza 4 1-3 9, Belle Pauli 3 0-0 6, Josie Riveland 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 10-16 48.

ABERDEEN RONCALLI (11-3): McKenna O’Keefe 1 1-2 3, Maddie Huber 1 0-0 2, Claire Crawford 1 1-2 3, Rylee Voeller 4 1-2 12, Ava Hanson 5 3-3 14, Karsyn Davis 2 0-0 4. Totals 14 6-9 38.

Milbank 9 22 33 48

Aberdeen Roncalli 10 24 31 38

3-point field goals – Anderson 3, Berry; Voeller 3, Hanson. Fouled out – Huber. Total fouls -Milbank 12; Aberdeen Roncalli 18.